Salvation is meant to bring you back into alignment with the glory of God. Jesus is our exemplar of a blameless life. Jesus is the first of the Second Order Powers that came fully loaded with the Third Order of Powers. That’s why he’s called Jesus the Anointed. He walked with the truth and spirit and love of the Father at all times, and through the power of the Christ we are to emulate Jesus. The presence of Jesus is not simply a fairy tale as so many people claim, plugging Jesus into history in the creation of a false religion. It’s really not even possible in my mind because there’s too much truth and beauty in the New Testament to be a fable constructed by a pack of religious liars.
Are you better off than you were four years ago? Are you better off than you were ten years ago? Are the cities safer? Are the homeless housed? Are the drug addicts taken care of and given a clean and better life? Has cancer been cured? Do immunizations really help? So without stepping on any of my listeners’ toes, I would say no, probably not. And that’s what I’m going to try to explain to you today.